Mitsubishi Asset Brains Plans to Start a Fund of Hedge Funds

Bloomberg- Mitsubishi Asset Brains Co., an investment advisory firm of the Mitsubishi financial group, plans to start a fund of hedge funds as it seeks to invest in managers that can make money in falling markets.

The company aims to start advising a fund in the next “two- to-three years” with the aim of raising “several tens of billions of yen,” Akihiro Nishi, executive director at the Tokyo-based company’s investment advisory division, said in an interview in Tokyo. The company has hired a hedge fund manager who will start in August, he said.

Mitsubishi Asset Brains aims to tap growing demand for funds of hedge funds since the credit crunch that stemmed from U.S. subprime loan problems prompted investors to seek diversified investments to secure steady returns. The money managed by funds of hedge funds has grown more than 800 percent since 2003, according to Singapore-based research firm Eurekahedge.